


The Sin of Lust

by StarvingLunatic



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Crimes & Criminals, Drama, F/F, Gang Violence, Lesbian Character, Novelette, One Shot, Organized Crime, Revenge, Sexual Violence, Violence, Wordcount: 10.000-30.000, Wordcount: Over 10.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-20
Updated: 2011-11-20
Packaged: 2018-03-18 05:26:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3557750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarvingLunatic/pseuds/StarvingLunatic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Lilith wanted was to come home and be with her wife, but she's not given the chance after she finds her wife attacked. Now, all she wants is revenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sin of Lust

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Welcome to another original story by this lunatic. The story is mine and the characters are mine. Please do not use them without my permission.
> 
> General warning: This story involves a relationship between two women. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. This story is also different from my others, mostly because it doesn’t focus on a romance and there’s really one main character instead of a couple. The rating is more based on the violence that occurs within the story than anything else.
> 
> I don’t own or mean to malign or undermine any schools mentioned here either; this story has nothing to do with the actual college division of Ivy League schools. I don’t own Mickey Mouse or Morgan le Fay either.

The Sin of Lust

The night was cold and full of noise from the city. The bass from the club hummed out in the air. Lilith strolled slowly through the dark, large parking lot of the Gentlemen’s Lair without making a sound. Her long, midnight blue coat swayed behind her, as silent as her steps. Her dark brown eyes hidden underneath a black fedora scanned the area automatically. There were not that many cars in the lot, but it was early. Stepping into the dimly lit club, she gave a nod to the bouncer as he was about to move closer to the door.

“Hey, Lilith, I didn’t know you were gonna be here tonight,” the large bouncer said with a large playful grin.

A snarl curled on her tight lips. “Don’t start with me, Jag. I’m not in the mood.”

Jag put his hands up in a surrender gesture and his smile disappeared. He tried not to swallow hard, but she could see his thick neck move slightly with a gulp. She glared at him and he tensed. She could see the veins in his tan neck bulge and knew that his heart rate was going through the roof.

“You want a drink?” the slim bartender offered in order to draw attention away from Jag. It would not help the club if the bouncer was murdered before the crowd arrived. It would serve Jag right, though, since he knew better than to try teasing Lilith her first night back after being away for more than a week.

Lilith sighed and turned her attention to the bar. Eyeing the stock, she eased onto the closest stool. The bartender chuckled nervously and poured Lilith the closest bottle on hand, knowing that she would not care. She nursed the drink while Jag rushed off.

“How is she, Proof?” Lilith asked the bartender in a low tone. Her eyes stayed on her drink, but she could see the bartender’s expression just fine.

Proof turned his mouth up a little as he considered his response. “Same as always from what I can tell when you’re gone. She’s more social. She actually stayed a couple of days ago and had a drink after she was done. I heard that she actually went out shopping with a couple of the more low-key girls. It sounded like they had a good time and made a day of it.”

“Finals ended a couple of weeks ago, so she has free time now. Although, I know you all like to joke that I keep her chained in the basement when she’s not here. She’s serious about her schooling,” Lilith stated.

Proof did not say anything and Lilith knew why. Everyone knew the myth of strippers working their way through school. For one of the dancers at the Gentlemen’s Lair, it was the actual truth. Proof and the rest of the staff liked to make jokes about it. Lilith let it go because her girl did not seem to mind.

“Anything else I should know about?” Lilith inquired. Her eyes drifted around the club, which was empty.

Proof shook his head. “Nothing major. We take care of the girls around here. You know that,” he boasted with a proud smile.

Lilith did not respond and returned her attention to her drink. A few seconds later, her hard, dark gaze cut to the right. A smile curved onto her full lips and she turned just in time to take in a sight for sore eyes. A moment later, she was holding soft skin and kissing delicious, welcoming lips. She took command of the mouth on hers and drew out a long moan as her fingers danced across an exposed abdomen. Eventually, they had to break for air.

“Blah, you taste like scotch.”

Lilith smiled and ran her hands through lush, thick chocolate locks. “I’ve been drinking scotch, Annette.” A pale finger quickly went to Lilith’s mouth.

“Shh. When I’m at work, I’m Spice,” Annette commented with a seductive smile on her pouty, glistening lips.

Lilith did not look impressed with the smile, but then again, her eyes might have been a little busy taking in Annette’s body. Tempting pale skin was ripe for the tasting and on display in a skimpy bikini-like outfit with colorful feathers on it. Lilith was going to ask what the hell Annette was wearing, but she found herself not caring when Annette took her hand and pulled her out of her chair.

“Come on, sailor, let me do something to occupy your attention,” Annette said with a familiar glint in her eyes.

Lilith downed her shot and let the pale female lead her off to a small booth. Annette slid Lilith’s coat off, revealing a black pants’ suit and a cranberry red shirt. The top button was undone, giving a hint of tan cleavage beneath. Annette licked her lips as she pushed Lilith down into the cushioned chair. She leaned in close to a small ear, hitting the rim of the fedora that Lilith was wearing.

“Right now, I just want you to get an idea of how much I missed you. I’ll tell you the whole thing later on,” the brown-haired woman whispered before nipping at Lilith’s earlobe.

“Then I’ll be sure to get home soon,” Lilith replied with a smile as she felt delicate fingers toying with the ends of her short, black hair.

Annette smirked. “Uh-huh. I’ve heard that before and then your brother keeps you over there, drinking and talking business,” she replied and yanked Lilith’s hat off of her head. She continued smirking at she eased the hat onto her own head.

“I won’t let him do that. I’ve been gone too long as it is. I won’t let you go to bed alone tonight,” Lilith promised.

“Oh, baby, don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Annette whispered before giving Lilith a lingering peck on the lips.

The music began playing as the club prepared for its opening and provided the perfect opportunity for Annette to begin dancing. The roll of her hips had Lilith at the start and her hands went out to touch. Lilith partially expected her hands to be slapped away; a game that Annette sometimes liked to play with her. But, apparently, she was gone long enough for Annette to bypass the games. In fact, Annette took Lilith’s hands and moved them from her hips; one went to her ample breast and the other was placed between Annette’s legs.

“You’re so frisky,” Lilith murmured in shock.

“I missed you so much, baby,” Annette replied as she continued to move sensually. Her dancing was nothing like she would do later on for customers. Her movement was passionate and spoke of hot promises rather than fantasy and teasing.

“Tonight,” Lilith vowed.

Annette chuckled before taking Lilith’s bottom lip between her teeth. Oddly enough, the svelte brunette was the one that moaned, not Lilith. The dancing continued on and Lilith’s hands wandered while she noted that a few men had filtered into the opening club. Lilith could not help keeping track of who came in and where they went; it was beyond force of habit. Being extremely sensitive to her surroundings was like second nature to Lilith.

“Pay attention to me, love,” Annette whispered before dragging her molten tongue along Lilith’s ear. The fire from her burned into the older woman that she was dancing for.

“You have my complete attention. You know I can’t turn it off, though,” Lilith replied, gently stroking Annette’s breast.

Annette smirked. “Perhaps if I forced you to keep your hands to yourself, you’ll pay attention to me.”

Lilith growled, deep and low, at the very idea. Large breasts being pushed in her face muffled the sound and Lilith was pacified for the moment. The music kept playing and Annette moved like she was made from the rhythm. Pressing herself up against Lilith, she earned a contented purr from the older woman.

While Annette did have Lilith’s full attention, her mind still picked up on things happening around her, like people continuing to filter into the club, more girls coming out to dance, and shows at the center stage beginning to start. A couple of tables away a group of four loud and rowdy young men sat down. They downed their beers in gulps as they threw down money for a couple of girls dancing on the stage closest to them. It was rather normal until they started pulling on the dancers. The bouncers were on that before trouble started.

“Hey, no touching the girls!” Jag barked at the group. He glared at them in a manner that usually kept customers in line for the rest of their lives.

“What? The dyke over there gets to touch!” one freckle-faced punk declared. He pointed over to Lilith, whose hands were definitely touching all over Annette as pale-skinned woman moved above her.

“Yeah, hey! Why don’t the two of you come over here and entertain us!” another skinny punk called over.

Lilith growled a little and her sharp gaze sliced over to the foursome. Before she could slay them with her razor-like tongue, Annette tugged on her short onyx hair, forcing her focus back on what mattered. Annette did not miss a beat and Lilith drowned out heckles of the four idiots. When one of the morons rose to his feet, Lilith was on high alert. Her hand went to her back, but she did not have to move as Jag forced the young man back into his chair.

“Baby, you’re not acting like you missed me,” Annette pouted, leaning down to nuzzle her lover. She placed hot, wet kisses on Lilith’s neck and throat.

“You know I missed you,” Lilith purred.

“Then keep your attention here or I’ll leave.”

Lilith snarled at the threat, knowing it was a promise. Annette appeased her by running her hands through Lilith’s short black hair and then going in for a wet, lengthy kiss on the mouth. It felt like they were devouring each other, consuming each other, and becoming one entity. It caused them both to groan in anticipation. Annette smiled at the burning gaze Lilith gave her as they broke apart.

“Later, baby,” Annette reminded the older woman.

“Right. Shit, I need to go see my brother now. Even if he does want to talk my ear off, I’ll still get out of his place at a decent hour,” Lilith figured.

“Good plan. My shift starts in ten minutes, anyway.”

Lilith rolled her eyes. “I don’t care about that. I’ll keep you as long as I want.” Her hands then traversed Annette’s plump ass. She clutched both cheeks tightly and pulled the pale woman closer to her.

Annette frowned playfully. “Hey, we agreed that you wouldn’t jeopardize my job.”

Lilith arched an eyebrow. “Do you honestly think that anything could jeopardize your job? You’re a princess,” she commented as she moved one hand to stroke Annette’s temptingly long neck.

Annette smiled. “We agreed that we would let me be me and you would be you. Right?”

Lilith smirked, but did not argue. Moving her hand to the back of Annette’s pale, swan neck, she pulled the younger woman down for a heated kiss. They both mewed from the contact and then Lilith rudely slapped Annette on the ass. The dancer moved away from her love and Lilith stood up. She stood as Annette gave her one last peck on the lips.

“Be good,” Annette whispered as she put Lilith’s head back on her head.

“I’m always good at what I do,” Lilith remarked before exiting the club. On her way out, she made sure to glare that the foursome that dared speak to her and Annette in obscene ways. They did not even notice, which she thought was a little unfortunate. Being so oblivious in the Gentlemen’s Lair could always lead to disaster.

-8-8-8-8-

“Lilith, I was wondering when you were going to get here,” Lucifer Devi said with a smile as he climbed off of the couch to his feet to greet him. He was much taller than Lilith, towering over her by nine inches. He weighed almost twice as much as she did and was solid muscle. He had his dentist put fangs on four of his top teeth and the canines of his bottom teeth that showed very well when he smiled. The fangs paired contrasted with his light-colored eyes, yet somehow made him appear vicious, almost demonic.

She was never really intimidated by Lucifer despite his looks, mostly because she knew that he wandered his house in fuzzy, pink socks. It was difficult to consider that he knew infinite ways to kill a man when he looked so ridiculous. Of course, he probably thought the same of her, knowing that she walked around her own home in baggy, tethered sky blue sweat pants and a Mickey Mouse shirt.

“You are always my second priority when I return home, Lucifer,” Lilith reminded him as they embraced each other. They both then sat down and sank into the lush, comfortable cream-colored sofa.

“I suppose it’s a good thing Mom didn’t live long enough to see her namesake forsake her duties in favor of the enemy,” he commented with a smile and it earned him a punch in the shoulder. “Ow! Damn, your hits hurt for someone your size!”

“Don’t talk about my wife like that or you’ll be seeing both Mom and Dad a lot sooner than they expected,” Lilith growled, shaking her fist at her older brother.

He chuckled; his unusually light and disarming hazel eyes shining with odd warmth. “They’d come back from the dead to scold the hell out of you for killing not only the commander and emperor of our little army, but your own big brother! You would definitely be the world’s worst bodyguard.”

She laughed. “This is the reason they had Damien. He’s the spare son in case of emergencies, like when the middle child finally snaps.”

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Damien is barely old enough to grow facial hair. I don’t think he’s ready to run the organization just yet.”

“Hey, that’s my little brother you’re talking about. Not to mention my own soldier. He’s coming along,” Lilith defended the youngest of them.

“I know, I know. You want a beer?” Lucifer offered, nodding in the direction of his kitchen.

She shook her head and waved the offer off. “No, no, no. Don’t start that bullshit. Annette will devour my ass if I end up staying here the whole night.”

Lucifer shook his head and ran his hand through his short, black hair. “You are so pussy-whipped.”

“Says the guy married to his lawyer. All you have to do is turn your head the wrong way and Janice would put your ass under the jail for the rest of your life. I don’t even understand how you took that chance. God, what if you end up having a fight with her the day the police are feeling stupid? She’d hang your ass out to dry.”

“Advice on women? This from a woman married to a stripper?” Lucifer snorted and rolled his eyes while a smile stayed on his face.

“She won’t always be a stripper.”

“But, she’s a stripper now. So, you can’t give me advice on women until she’s not a stripper anymore.”

Lilith rolled her eyes. “Look, let’s not get into this. We’ll spend the whole night talking about our women and I need to get home. Annette really wasn’t happy with me leaving for so long.”

“How did things go, anyway?” Lucifer inquired, giving his younger sister a sideways glance.

“Things went well, of course. I don’t think we’ll be getting any more problems from those bozos.”

Lucifer smiled and nodded. “I knew you’d help them see things my way. Sure you don’t want to stay for a beer? I’ve got leftovers in the fridge, too. Hungry?”

“For Annette. Stop trying to get me in trouble. This is just like when we were kids. You always got me in trouble with Mom.”

Lucifer chuckled. “Oh, man, I remember that time I had Mom screaming at you after I talked you into jumping out the second story window. I never thought it was possible to scold someone for breaking their own ankle.”

Lilith snorted and rolled her eyes. “Such a goddamn demon. Look, everything went the way it was supposed to go. Business should be back to normal. So, I’m going home,” she announced.

“Sure, just leave me alone with my giant TV and beer.” Lucifer pretended to pout.

“Where’s Janice?”

“She went to bed about an hour ago. Rough day at the office.”

Lilith rolled her eyes again. “Rough? What happened, they ran out of expensive, bottled mineral water?”

“Shut up!” Lucifer shoved his younger sister.

Lilith chuckled as she fell over, but she took that as her chance to get up. She stretched and then leaned down to get her brother a hug. He patted her on the back.

“Tell your little princess I’ll try not to keep you away so long next time,” Lucifer said.

“She knows you just say that to appease her,” Lilith replied.

“Well, she could always go with you when she finally gets that degree.”

Lilith eyed him as if he had grown a second head. “Do you really think she’s going to look at it as a vacation if she’s relaxing on a beach while I’m off doing my thing?”

“What? Has she ever seen you cut someone’s fingers off? It’s like a work of art,” he remarked with a laugh.

“Only to us. Besides, I doubt she’d like being on a plane at four in the morning either. Now, I’ve got a princess waiting. I’m going home.”

“Enjoy your night … or day … or morning. What the hell does this even count as since I know you’ve been up for at least two days?”

Lilith waved her brother off, knowing he was just trying to drag her into more pointless conversation. Generally, she enjoyed hanging out with her brother and doing nothing at all, but not after being away from her wife for so long. She needed to get home and not even Lucifer would keep her from doing that. Exiting her brother’s large home, she went to her car and smiled as she was on her way back to her wife.

“Luce would probably think I’m crazy if he found out all I wanna do is hold and cuddle with my little princess,” Lilith muttered to herself. “Of course, after I get a few hours sleep that’ll change, but right now, I really just want to hold her.”

Lilith was not sure what it was about Annette that drew her in and enchanted her, enthralled her really, but she did not care. Before Annette, she would never think about cuddling a lover or girlfriend. But, then again, she had never thought about living together and marriage until Annette either.

Driving to their condo, she thought about life before being married, before Annette. She used to live in Lucifer’s house. It was massive enough for her to stay out of his and his wife’s way when necessary and it had been his idea anyway. Before that, she had lived in a tiny studio apartment that was very much a bachelor pad. It had been rare for her to have anyone over; she always preferred going to women’s homes because it was easier to leave than to wait for someone to get the hint that she should leave.

And then Annette came along and all Lilith could think about was getting a nice place to entice the younger woman over. Something that would make Annette want to stay, not just a day or a few days, but forever. She supposed everything that she tried worked since they had been together for three years and blissfully married for two.

Of course, she needed some “training,” as Annette jokingly called it. But, then so did Annette. She had to get Annette used to the way she lived to a certain degree and accustomed to what her brothers did. It was difficult because most of the time if she, Lucifer, and Damien were together, they just acted like three, close and crazy siblings. The behavior seemed normal and Annette could not reconcile that with the thought of those three crazy, sometimes immature siblings being some of the most powerful people in the underworld.

Annette had been exposed to the darker side through her job at the Gentlemen’s Lair, but nowhere near the depth that she had with Lilith and her brothers. Annette did not flinch much and carried on with her life. She knew what Lilith did, but treated it like a normal job, which was how Lilith acted. In return, Lilith treated Annette’s work like a normal job. It was one of the reasons that they were able to get along so well.

“Of course, the fact that her job isn’t forever helps a lot,” Lilith smiled. “Once she gets that degree, she is all mine. I wonder if it’ll be weird to be married to a kindergarten teacher.”

It tickled her that Annette wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. While Annette was not a vicious gangster, she had been in brought up in a rough environment. She had not allowed that to bring her down and all she wanted to do was help children. Lilith was pretty sure that those sentiments helped endear Annette to her.

She dismissed the thought as she drove into the gated community where her and Annette’s condo was located. She could have always gotten a house and had some guards, like Lucifer, but Annette refused to go for that. While she did not mind the money, Annette also wanted some normalcy. Having armed guards around her was definitely not normal … for Annette anyway. Lilith had grown up like that.

Pulling up to the front of the house, Lilith noticed that all of the lights were off. She arched an eyebrow and cautiously approached the door while pulling out the eleven inch hunting knife that she kept at her back. Testing the doorknob, she discovered it was open.

“Shit,” Lilith hissed. “Annette?” she called out against her better judgment. She knew that she should be quiet, but honestly, if someone was dumb enough to enter her home without permission, the person probably was unaware of what she was capable of. “Annette? Princess, please, say something,” she begged.

The house was deathly silent. Lilith crept through the place until she heard a groan in the bedroom. Rushing over, she noticed a body on the floor and felt her heart sink. Turning on the light, she saw quite possibly the worst sight of her life.

“Oh, god, baby, no!” Lilith cried, dropping her knife immediately.

Annette was lying by their bed, her clothing torn and her body covered in blood that was obviously her own. The whole room was bathed in her blood. Lilith dropped down and cradled her damaged body in her arms. It was hard to believe that the woman she was holding was her wife because Annette’s face was bruised and beaten almost beyond recognition.

“Oh, god, princess. Hold on, hold on,” Lilith whispered. She quickly checked for a pulse.

“Lil …” Annette groaned in a very low tone as she turned to face her wife.

“I’m here, princess. I’m here. Don’t worry. I’ll get you help,” Lilith promised as she gathered her wife in her arms.

Lilith was not much taller than Annette, but she lifted the younger woman as if she weighed less than a sheet of paper. Hurrying out to the car, she did not even bother to shut the door. Gently, she lay Annette in the backseat and sped away from the curb so rapidly that she left smoking tire marks.

Pulling up in the hospital emergency, she grabbed Annette with the utmost care, but also in a hurry. She bolted into the hospital and got into the face of the first nurse that she saw. She almost scared the poor woman to death.

“I need to see Doctor Stilwell! NOW!” Lilith bellowed.

The nurse ran off while Lilith moved to get Annette into the emergency room ASAP. With the frozen, blood-crazed look in her eyes, people would have moved heaven and earth to calm her down. Annette was in a bed and being examined by the time the person Lilith called for appeared.

“Whoa, what the hell happened to the princess?” Doctor Stilwell inquired as he stepped up. He stood a little under six feet and had a soft, round face with chubby cheeks. Lilith always thought he looked like a tall twelve-year-old. His sleek spectacles did not help the picture. If she did not know him, she probably would never believe he was a doctor.

“Don’t ask stupid questions right now. Save her, Lance, or I promise you that you’ll never operate on anyone ever again,” Lilith growled.

Doctor Stilwell nodded and jumped into the fray. Annette was rushed off to surgery because of several broken bones and internal trauma. Lilith used that time to make some phone calls.

“Damien, I need you to stop whatever the hell you’re doing and come over to Haven’s medical facility,” Lilith stated.

“What? Why? You okay?” her little brother demanded.

“I’m fine. It’s … it’s my princess,” she whimpered.

“Wait, what?” his voice was laced with confusion.

“My princess is the hospital. Lance is looking after her right now. She’s … she’s … Oh, god, it’s bad,” she replied and she rubbed her forehead. She had never felt so out of sorts. She did not know what to do. She did not know what she could do. Punching a wall seemed counterproductive.

“What the fuck? What happened to Annette? Shit, I’ll be down in a minute!” he hollered in a panic.

The call was disconnected and Lilith quickly dialed her other brother. “Luce?” her voice cracked.

“What’s up, Lil? Why do you sound like that?” Lucifer inquired.

She had to take a deep breath. “Luce, Annette’s in the hospital.”

“What? What happened?” he demanded in a thundering tone.

“I don’t know yet. She was beaten pretty badly. They took her into surgery. Damien’s coming down here …”

“And so am I!”

Again, the call was disconnected and Lilith paced the halls of the waiting room like a madwoman. When her brothers arrived, she was practically pulling out her short hair. They grabbed her into a group hug if only to calm her down.

“Relax. Annette’s a fighter. That’s how she’s able to keep up with you,” Lucifer told her while patting her on the back.

Lilith tried to smile, but it was difficult with her wife in surgery. Her older brother stepped back for a moment, but her younger brother continued to hold her. Damien was taller than she was, but not close to Lucifer’s height. He was pretty thin, too, making it seem like Lucifer sucked up all of the good genes. But, Damien was determined to put on weight eventually. Until then, his hugs were remarkably different than Lucifer’s.

Damien Devi had the same obsidian-colored hair as his siblings, but his was shaved into a Mohawk that was then pulled into a ponytail that flowed down his back. His tan skin was covered in tattoos, including “666” in his forehead, which was flanked by two implanted horns. He shared an eye color with Lucifer, but had one contact lens to make his left eye look completely black.

“She’s definitely going to be okay. She’s got so much more to nag you about, Lil. I mean, she hasn’t even brought up having little devils with you,” Damien pointed out with a grin. “No way she leaves this mortal plane without having  _that_  talk with you.”

Lilith forced out a laugh. “Oh, god. Could you imagine?”

“I get the feeling she won’t be naming any kids after us. She’ll probably go with names to just bother us, like Gabriel or Michael or just plain Angel,” Damien continued on since he felt like he found a strain of conversation to comfort his sister.

“She would do that, wouldn’t she? I’d fight her tooth and nail for a name like Diablo or Shaitan. I had considered Iblis, but I know she won’t go for that. Maybe we’ll have a little girl. I haven’t thought of many girl names,” Lilith considered with a small smile.

“I have dozens! Or, we could just be lazy like Mom was and name the girl ‘Lilith.’ But, you could go with Hecate or Morrigan or Morgan. See? I’ve got you covered,” Damien declared with a grin and he patted his sister on the back.

“You might even get away with Morgan,” Lucifer said with a half-smile.

“Not really. You guys forget that Annette reads. She reads a lot. She’ll know right away that Morgan is a reference to Morgan la Fey and I don’t think we’ll get away with it. It’s up to you two to carry on the naming traditions of our family, I guess,” Lilith replied.

“Good because I’ll have you know I’ve already decided on Iblis for my first son, so I’m happy you can’t have it,” Lucifer informed them.

“What? I called that one when I first went through puberty,” Damien proclaimed with mock outrage.

“I think I went through puberty first. Not to mention, I think since I have a wife and arms like this …” Lucifer took a moment to strike a pose and show off his biceps. “I’ll more than likely be having that son first. If I have a daughter, I’m also stealing the name Morgan.”

“You can’t just take my daughter’s name,” Lilith argued.

“I’m oldest and I’m emperor, so I have dibs. You two are just bodyguards and lackeys,” he teased, dismissing them with a flicker of his hand.

The younger pair glared at Lucifer and growled. They both punched him in the shoulder. They were nice enough to take separate shoulders. Lucifer laughed, even though he put up his hands in case they tried again. Before they could get into anything further, Doctor Lance Stilwell appearing before them, which cut out the antics. They faced the doctor with grim expression and Lilith had to take both of her brothers’ hands. They squeezed her slender fingers in support.

“How is she, Lance?” Lilith asked in a breath.

Lance sighed. “We were able to catch the internal bleeding in time and we set her broken bones. She’s stable, but it’s still touch and go with her. She was beaten pretty badly. What happened to her?” he countered.

She shook her head. “You could probably tell me more than I could tell you. I came home after I met with Lucifer and I found her in the bedroom all beaten to hell. How bad is it?”

“Well, aside from the dislocated shoulder, broken wrist, broken tibia, quite a few broken fingers, some internal bleeding, and the fact that she scratched whoever the hell attacked her until she tore off almost all of her finger nails … I was supposed to make that sound better, wasn’t I?” Lance realized.

“No, we appreciate the candor,” Damien assured him, which the doctor knew was true.

“As bad as that all sounds, she pulled through the surgery and she’s resting. She will be spending at least the next twenty-four hours in Intensive Care for close monitoring, but if she remains stable, she’ll be moved to a private room. Of course, it’ll take a while for her to heal,” Lane reported.

“Lance …” Lilith stepped away from her brothers and motioned with the crook of her finger for the doctor to follow her. He did and they stepped over into a corner of the waiting room.

“You want to know if she was raped, don’t you?” Lance inquired in a whisper.

“Was she?” Lilith demanded.

Lance swallowed hard and nodded ever-so slightly. “Repeatedly.”

Lilith’s jaw tensed to the point that she felt like she might shatter all of her teeth. “Will she … will she …?” Lilith took a deep breath and tried to steady herself.

“Her reproductive organs weren’t damaged. She was torn to hell, but she’ll heal. She’ll still be able to have kids one day. I’m not sure if she’s pregnant from the … rape … but, we’ll keep an eye on that. Hopefully, nothing will come of that, but if it is, she should be awake to make a decision on it.”

Lilith blinked. “Decision?”

“Every now and then, women do keep the baby.”

Lilith took another breath and nodded. “Okay, okay, okay. If Annette decides to do that, it’s fine. I can handle that. I can handle it as long as she’s okay. And, she’s going to be okay, right?”

“She should be fine. It’ll be a long healing process.”

“What do you think she was beaten with?” Lilith asked curiously.

“All I can say now is a blunt object. Some of the cuts on her skin look like they could have been torn off through by a gun barrel or the hammer of a gun, so maybe pistol whipped. The trauma surgeon thought some of the marks looked like they could have been caused by a bat or wide pipe. Some of the bruises were probably caused by fists. I would definitely go with more than one attacker because of the different wounds from different weapons.”

Lilith nodded and a sudden tilt of her head let the good doctor know that she just figured something out. “When can I see her?”

“You can see her now. I wrote orders for you to be with her at all times. She’s not awake, though. She’ll probably be in and out of consciousness for the next couple of days due to medication and pain. Before you rush off like I know you’re going to do, what light bulb just went off in your head?”

Lilith shook her head and waved him off. “We didn’t pay for you to go to medical school for you to get caught up in the nonsense I do when Annette’s not watching me.”

“You got me there,” Lance agreed with a forced smile.

She smiled, too, trying her best to calm down now that she knew her wife would eventually be all right. “Bet you never thought it would pay out to go school with me, huh?” she commented as an attempt to keep herself centered. The question came out as pathetic as she felt, but Lance ignored that.

“No, I never thought it would pay off when you decked me in the eye.”

“Nobody told you to kiss me. The whole school knew I was gay. What the hell were you trying to prove, aside from the fact that you had a death wish?”

Lance chuckled. “I never told you, but Lucifer bet me five dollars I wouldn’t do it and I was tired of him calling me names.”

“Luce tried to get your dumb ass killed and you almost let him for five stinking dollars.” Lilith laughed; she had to force the sound out. She then walked off to rejoin her brothers. Lance moved on to carry out his other duties around the hospital.

“So, what’s the deal?” Damien asked.

“Well, aside from Lance telling me Luce was the one that tried to get him killed back when we were in high school, he said that Annette’s going to be fine and we can go see her,” Lilith answered while motioning out of the waiting room. The siblings began walking.

“The private chat?” Lucifer inquired with an arched eyebrow.

“Use your imagine and then think about how ugly the bodies will look when I find these guys,” Lilith informed him.

Lucifer nodded. “I can think of worse punishments than your usual artistry, my dear little sister. Do you have any idea of who would want to do this to Annette? I mean, yeah, her job is a little high risk, but who the hell would bother your wife?”

“Uh … an idiot?” Damien guessed.

“Several idiots. Lance thinks she was pistol whipped and beaten with a bat or possibly a pipe. For all we know, it could be all three along with someone’s fists. If this is what I think it is, it’s probably four,” Lilith told them.

“You have an idea of who did this,” Lucifer stated.

“When I went to see her at work, four boys couldn’t keep their thoughts to themselves. I’ll start with them,” Lilith answered.

“Sounds good, but, of course, first you have to see your wife,” Lucifer said.

Lilith nodded and she went into the room alone. Briefly, her breath caught in her throat as she looked at her princess covered in bandages, in casts, hooked up to monitors, and IVs. Silently, she vowed that someone, or four someones, would pay.

“Hey, baby,” Lilith whispered as she gently took her spouse’s right hand; it was the one without the cast. “It’s your demon woman. I’m here in case you want to open your eyes and just say a few words to let me know that you’re okay. You can scold me for not being there to protect you. What am I good for if not breaking some skulls, right? Princess …” Lilith sniffled a bit. “I am so sorry for not being there to protect you, but I will get the bastards that did this. I will get the bastards that dared to touch you, that dared to hurt you, and I will make them suffer like never before,” she pledged with a snarl.

Silence reigned over the room for a moment. Lilith hoped that Annette would fill the air with her usual sweet teasing or gently reprimands, but the only thing that was there was the beep from her monitors. Lilith sighed and ran her thumb over the top of her wife’s hand.

“Princess, nothing like this was supposed to happen to you. Even if I’m not there, the fact that you’re a princess in our organization should be enough. Nobody in their right mind would mess with royalty in the Soldiers of Hell, which is why I’m almost certain it was those stupid ass punks. I mean, you’re probably the only person protected by us and the goddamn Ivy League, so this had to be a real moron who doesn’t know his ass from his ankle. I’ll get them for you, princess. I promise,” Lilith vowed. She leaned down and kissed her wife’s fingertips.

Annette remained asleep and Lilith felt lost for one of the few times in her life. She gave Annette’s hand another tender squeeze before going out into the hallway to her brothers. Sighing, she stood there for a moment and they both patted her on the shoulder.

“I’m going to go take care of this as quickly as possible. You guys will stay with her?” Lilith requested.

“You know it,” Damien affirmed with a sharp nod.

“I have to call Janice. She’ll probably want to come up here,” Lucifer replied.

“Tell Janice to go to work first. I think the princess is going to be a sleep for a while,” Lilith stated.

Lucifer nodded. They both knew that Janice would probably crash her car trying to get to the hospital once they told her about Annette. She had taken Annette on as a little sister, helping her adjust to life in the Devi family, also known as the Devil family. Of course, Lucifer, Lilith, and Damien for the most part seemed almost normal in their everyday lives. But, then there was the fact that they ran an illegal enterprise with Lucifer calling the shots, Lilith carrying out what they called the “wet work” when business got messy, and Damien backing them both up when not handling business deals. Those were the things that Janice helped accustom Annette to. Janice also enjoyed having someone around that was not immature when no one was watching or criminally insane when someone was watching.

“I’ll be back soon,” Lilith informed her brothers as Lucifer pulled out his cell phone. She already knew that he and Damien were about to get into an argument about using the phone in the hospital. They were at each other’s throats before she made it to the elevator. She would have laughed if the circumstances were different.

-8-8-8-8-

“Lilith, what are you doing here? I figured you’d be banging Annette six ways to Sunday by now,” Jag commented as Lilith marched into the Gentlemen’s Lair. He was closing the place down with Proof.

Usually, a line like that would have caused Lilith to at least punch Jag, but that did not even cross her mind now. “Annette’s in the hospital,” she grunted.

Jag blinked while Proof dropped the glass that he was cleaning. They gawked at her as if she was an alien. She nodded.

“Was there an accident?” Proof managed to ask.

“No, she was beaten in our home,” Lilith replied.

“You mean to tell me some dumb motherfucker touched your girl?” Jag inquired in complete disbelief. “In your fucking house?” His face showed that he could not even comprehend that.

“Yes, some dead man touched my princess. What happened after I left here?” she asked as she scanned the establishment. It was mostly clean and obviously ready for closing as the sun crept into the sky.

Jag put his hand to his chin and thought about it. “Hmm … well, when you left, those boys heckled Annette some more, but she brushed them off. You know how mature she can be,” he said.

“That’s true. Anybody else brother her or seem too interested in her?” Lilith asked.

“No, it was just those boys. In fact, I had to throw them out eventually because they kept getting grabby with the girls and hounding Annette. And when I say throw them out, I mean that literally. I had a skinny punk in each hand and Bruno had the other two. They were barking about how we didn’t know who they were and all this bullshit.”

Lilith arched an eyebrow. “Who the hell were they?”

Jag scoffed and waved as if dismissing the boys. “Just some Freshmen punks.”

Lilith nodded and rubbed her chin. “I thought they were Freshies. Do all your Freshmen dress like geeks?”

Jag rolled her eyes. “They all think they’re big and bad once they get enrolled in the League. You know how it is. I’m sure your Soldiers get all puffed up.”

Lilith shook her head. “No, they don’t. We put everyone through boot camp Hell to make sure that doesn’t happen. Okay, so you threw those clowns out. What did they do after that?”

“I think they left. I wasn’t paying much attention once I got their asses out of here. They weren’t in the parking lot when I walked Annette to her car. Lilith, I don’t think those kids would’ve been smart enough to hide and then follow Annette, plus get into the air-tight community you live in,” he pointed out.

“You’d be surprised what men are capable of when they feel slighted. Even if it wasn’t them, they might know something. But, I’m leaning toward them. I’ve never seen them before, they have rude words for my wife, and then my wife ends up hospitalized all in the same night? I don’t believe in coincidences,” Lilith stated.

“We all know that. Look, I don’t like the idea of Freshies making trouble in League establishments, but I don’t know if you should go around hunting people in the League. This seems like League business.”

Lilith growled like an angry lion. “Annette is my wife, making it my business. To me, she’s a princess. To the Ivy League, she’s just a Book. Now, unless you want to tell me that someone else was harassing my wife, I have scumbags to track down and dismember.”

She was out the door before Jag could convince her otherwise. Making a stop by her house, she noticed that it was cleaned. She knew that her brothers had sent people over to take care of that. She grabbed a few things that she would need for what she knew was about to be a very long day. After that, she returned to the hospital to find Lucifer and Damien sitting with Annette, who was still unconscious.

“Lil, what’s up?” Lucifer inquired as she stepped closer to the bed.

“I think some Freshmen did this to Annette,” Lilith replied.

“Freshmen? Goddamn that fucking Ivy League. Goddamn Dean can’t control his fucking people,” Damien snarled. “We should wipe them out,” he proclaimed, punching his left fist into his right palm.

“Lil, you know I can’t sign off on you going after the League until we talk to Dean,” Lucifer reminded her.

“Call him. Just tell him I’m coming. I’ll go sit with him for breakfast,” Lilith said.

“No problem. If he gives you any shit over this, Lil, fuck him. Go get these bastards and we’ll sort out the mess later. I won’t let the Ivy League think they can just roll on your wife because she happens to work in one of their bullshit clubs. She might be their Book, but she’s your wife,” Lucifer stated.

“That’s what I said,” she replied.

“You want any help with this?” Damien offered.

“No, I think I can handle this on my own and I should. She’s my wife. But, I am open to suggestions.”

Lucifer and Damien smiled in ways that made their names understandable. They came up with some ideas that Lilith never would have thought of and she was the one amongst them that had to come up with these sorts of things in their line of work. It was just that her brothers thought about ways for the guy to suffer in ways that no man would ever want to.

“Thanks guys. I’ll be sure to have those on the menu as soon as I get these pricks. I’m going to see Dean now. He should be at that shithole club he likes to eat breakfast in,” Lilith said.

“I’ll call him,” Lucifer informed her. “Let him know the situation and that you’re coming. I’m also going to call Janice, just in case things get out of hand and you find yourself in need of a lawyer. I would also suggest you try to be back here before she shows up or you know she’ll twist your ear off your freaking skull.”

“You talked her into going to work?” Lilith asked.

“Yeah, she went to work. It was like talking her down from a damn ledge. She’ll be a whirlwind once she gets here. We’ve already warned the nurses,” Lucifer remarked with a fond smile.

“Good, not even they’ll be able to stop Janice. Call me if Annette wakes up,” Lilith said. Her brothers nodded and she was gone again.

-8-8-8-8-

The Harvard Lounge was the place that all of the higher level jamooks in the Ivy League hung out, including the man that Lilith needed to see. The restaurant was supposed to be four star, but Lilith had eaten there once and decided that she would rather starve to death than do it again, which said a lot considering the fact that she could eat most of the things people saw on “Man v. Wild.” The atmosphere was too dark for her liking, too. It really was more like a lounge than a restaurant and she never enjoyed eating in the dark when she was in civilization.

“Name?” the massive host/bodyguard pressed as he put his hand out to stop her.

“Do we really want to wander down this road?” Lilith snarled.

He sounded like almost swallowed his tongue and his eyes nearly rolled out of his head as he realized who she was. “Lilith! Ma’am, Miss, uh … I didn’t know it was you. Um … are you here to see anyone in particular or are you looking for breakfast?”

“I’m not going to kill anyone if that’s what you’re wondering. I just want to have a conversation with Dean.”

The host nodded. “You do know I have to frisk you, ma’am.”

Lilith put her arms up and allowed him to frisk her. He found her gun and knife and confiscated them. She knew that she would get them back when she left, so she did not mind. Besides, she was just as deadly without the weapons; not to mention, there were plenty of weapons that he missed. He then pointed her in the direction of Dean, even though it was not necessary. The guy ate in the same booth at the same time everyday. He was nothing if not predictable.

“Which is probably going to be the thing that gets him killed,” Lilith decided. Her parents had taught her and her brothers early on that being unpredictable was the best way to stay alive. “Look at how long Fidel Castro lasted,” they always said.

Dean was sitting where she knew he would be. He was dressed in one of his pompous silk suits and reading the newspaper while undoubtedly waiting for his breakfast. She took the empty seat across him before any of his bodyguards even had a chance to notice that she was in the room.

“How are your stocks doing?” Lilith remarked.

Dean dropped the paper, revealing his dark face with small, implanted knots on his forehead and strange blue eyes. He smiled a bit at her, showing off a dentally elongated canine tooth; he only had the left one fashioned to look like a fang. He seemed to like having a sophisticated, yet deranged look to him. She wondered if he thought it instilled fear or if he was just copying off of her family; after all, Lucifer had fangs and Damien had small horns implanted in his forehead. Once upon a time, she had fangs and a bullring through her nose, but Annette had her get rid of them. She wondered if Dean thought those were the things that made them intimidating and frightening.

“Lilith, your brother just called me,” Dean said in a friendly manner. “He informed me that you had some disturbing news about some Freshmen of mine.”

“I’m looking for four Freshmen who I believe are responsible for putting Annette in the hospital earlier this morning,” Lilith reported in a dry tone. She almost sounded as if she did not care. She would never show emotion in front of anyone aside from her brothers and her wife.

“And what makes you think anyone in the Ivy League would be stupid enough to put one of our own in the hospital?”

She shrugged. “Because they’re stupid Freshmen who probably just thought she was another Book.”

Dean nodded. “Well, she is one of many educational tools we use in our business.”

“Yeah, but, she’s not just any Book. She’s my wife and a princess in Hell. I only came here as a professional courtesy. If you’re going to sit here and act like I’m the stupid one, no problem. But, my wife’s attackers will not go unpunished. The same can be said of anyone who protects them,” she informed Dean.

She waited to see if he understood what she meant. For her wife, Lilith would definitely take on the whole Ivy League, even if they were a much larger organization than her own Soldiers of Hell. Of course, the fact that they had more numbers was the only reason they survived, anyway. A few years ago when they first moved into the city, she, Lucifer, and Damien tried to squash them, but they were like roaches and just kept coming back. In the end, a truce was called and the Ivy League got a piece of the city; of course, it was not a huge piece, but it was enough to end a war that left a lot of people died.

“You mean to tell me that you would jeopardize the peace treaty that gave you your precious wife?” Dean asked curiously.

“Is that how you think of it? That you gave me my wife? I would’ve had Annette no matter what. I didn’t care that she was property of the League, that she was a Book, or that she was a stripper. Eventually, I would have had her. It just worked out best to stop the slaughter. Look, you’re used to dealing mostly with Lucifer, who is very reasonable for the most part. I can be, too, but not when it comes to scum who hurt Annette. I’m not reasonable about her safety, her pain, or her misery. These things come up and I destroy the threats. Now, I’m not saying your Freshmen did anything just yet, but I suspect them. I’m going to find them and get to the bottom of this,” Lilith told him.

“What makes you think these Freshmen were involved?”

“They were harassing her at work to the point that Jag had to throw them out. They obviously were unaware of who I was as they harassed us while I was there. I think their stupidity speaks for itself.”

Dean nodded slightly. “Just because they were harassing you doesn’t mean that they later attacked Annette.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences. They harassed Annette, later had to be thrown out of the club for continuing harassment, and lastly Annette ends up in the hospital? Even if they didn’t do it, they might know something. They’re the only lead I have left. I’m going to go look at the cameras at the club to see how far the harassment went, but I don’t want to step on your toes. You see, Soldiers of Hell have a little respect and honor.”

A frown cut through Dean’s strong jaw. “So, you want my permission?” he posed.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” she replied. She hated speaking to him because he often tried to bait her into making it seem like he was the one in power. She thought that it might have something to do with the fact that she was a woman and essentially the second-in-command in the Soldiers of Hell. He did not seem to have much regard for women beyond being tools to make money. She doubted that she had ever seen a high-ranking woman in the Ivy League.

“Then what?”

“Just making you aware of my movements. I assure you, I won’t kill the little Freshies when I find them. Of course, if they had anything to do with this, they might wish otherwise,” she commented with a smile.

Dean pursed his lips for a moment, considering her words. She already knew the decision that he would make. It was the only decision he could make without starting a war with her and it was not a war that he could win. She and her brothers always vowed that if they went to war with the Ivy League again, there would be no treaty, only death and destruction. They had made preparations for just that day.

“Take Blitz with you. He’s a tenured Yale professor,” Dean replied, nodding toward the bar.

Lilith knew who Blitz was. Dean calling him a “tenured Yale professor” was Ivy League code for him being a loyal general in the organization’s inner security branch. The Ivy League was broken up into divisions that were all named after actual Ivy League schools. The members were divided by positions called “professors,” “seniors,” “juniors,” “sophomores,” and the newest members were known as “freshmen.” The man in charge was called The Dean and he obviously went by the name Dean. Any property owned by the League or a commodity that the League had was referred to as a “book,” which included people like Annette. Lilith and her brothers had had a long laugh when they learned all of that about their former enemies.

Lilith did not argue about taking Blitz. Ivy Leaguers were more likely to talk to him than to her, even if Annette was her wife. Besides, Blitz was fairly easy to get along with. They respected each other and probably could have been friends if only he was not one of the damned Ivy Leagues top generals. Lucifer joked that the pair bonded after shooting each other in the shoulder during the war. Now, whenever they saw each other, they had conversations and even played pool together on occasion.

“Hey, Blitz, you’re with me today,” Lilith informed him as she patted hard him on the shoulder.

Blitz hissed. “Ah, Lilith, you’re fucking evil. You know it still hurts!” he complained as he jumped up from his chair at the bar. Blitz was a very short man, shorter than Lilith. He stood about 5’ 4”, but his presence always made him seem like a giant. He dressed in a suit, like most high-ranking men in the League, but it never seemed to fit him. He actually preferred jeans and sneakers.

“Suck it up, soldier. I got a tattoo put over mine and it feels sweet when Annette digs her nails in,” Lilith remarked with a smirk.

“Annette would have your ass if she knew you were telling bedroom tales about her,” Blitz commented.

Lilith smiled a bit and shook her head. “I don’t think Annette’ll be bothered by that just yet. I’ll fill you in as we make some rounds.”

“All right, just don’t shoot me again.”

“If we’re lucky, we’ll get to shoot other people.”

Blitz laughed at that and the pair exited the restaurant together. They went to Lilith’s car and she filled him in on things as she drove them back to the Gentlemen’s Lair. Blitz let them in and they went to view the security tapes from last night.

“I can’t believe someone was dumb enough to attack Annette,” Blitz commented as his brown eyes focused intently on the surveillance recordings.

“You can’t believe it?” Lilith growled.

“Hasn’t anybody heard what happened to last jackass to touch anyone in the Hell royal family? I tell the story about Lucifer smacking that dude with a barstool like I did it,” Blitz remarked with a chuckle.

Lilith laughed, too, recalling some idiot grab Janice’s ass while they were hanging out at a club. Lucifer had taken hold of the nearest object, which happened to be a barstool, and smashed the guy’s face in without a second thought. They then finished their drinks and moved onto the next club where Janice scolded Lucifer for overreacting while Lilith and Damien bought their big brother drinks for the rest of the night for handling the matter the way he had. They later found out that Lucifer broke the guy’s jaw and shattered his cheekbone, which they all thought meant the guy got off light.

“When I find these assholes, I’ll make it seem like Lucifer kissed that guy,” Lilith promised with a low snarl.

“Are these the idiots you think did it?” Blitz asked as he pointed to the screen. Sure enough, there was the foursome entering the club and sitting down.

“Yup. You keep an eye on them and I’ll keep an eye on Annette. See if anything stands out.”

Blitz nodded and by the end of the tape, he was willing to agree with her. The only trouble in the club that night seemed to be the four Freshmen. They were causing an uproar, trying to grope the girls and barking orders. They followed Annette around like lovesick puppies and only got rowdier each time she rebuffed them. They were obviously drunk with power, so he suspected that they had only recently joined the Ivy League.

“I’m starting to think we need a mentoring program,” Blitz muttered. He sighed and shook his head, obviously disappointed with the new members of his organization.

“Having a lot of trouble with Freshmen?” Lilith inquired, giving him a sidelong glance.

“They’re always trouble. They think once they get into the organization, they have immunity to everything and a ‘please act like a jackass’ card. Most of them have the person that enrolled them to keep them in line, but every now and then we get morons like this. A lot of kids join because they think this is like some fraternity and they act like frat boys, like these idiots.”

“Do they look familiar?” Lilith asked.

“No, but from the way they’re acting with the Books, I would bet they’re from Cornell. You know, you work with the pros and dancers and you start to think they’re all just objects for you to play with instead of Books that others pay us to study,” Blitz explained.

Lilith growled. “They messed with the wrong Book.”

“Most of us know that Annette is the last person anyone wants to study if she isn’t on the clock. Everyone knows about the Book who’s also a Princess.”

She shook her head and pointed to the quartet on screen. “Not everyone. Let’s find these idiots and see what they have to say about last night.”

“Sounds fun. I’ll make some calls and find out where the Freshmen hang out. I try to avoid anyone that’s not a Junior.”

“I can understand that,” Lilith said.

The pair finished up the tapes and made sure to take a few stills of the young men before they left the club. They sat in the car for a while as Blitz made a few calls to try to find out where he could find some Freshmen hangouts. Lilith made a call of her own.

“How’s she doing, Luce?” Lilith asked in a low voice.

“She’s still asleep. A nurse came in and checked her out a few minutes ago. Everything is normal. How’s it going?” Lucifer countered.

“Dean gave me Blitz to hunt down these assholes. Blitz is pretty sure it’s the same idiots I thought it was. We’re off to find them now. Call me if there’s a change or if she wakes up.”

“And if she asks for you?”

“You know I’ll be right there, Lucifer. You know how it is.”

“All right. Give ‘em Hell, Lilith.”

“That’s what I was made for.”

Lucifer did not argue that since it was true and they ended the call. Lilith turned to Blitz, who was still on the phone. He ended the call a few seconds later and then turned to her.

“It might be faster if I drive,” he offered.

“All right, but you scratch my car and you die underneath it,” she informed him, totally serious and he knew that she was.

They swapped places and they were off. Blitz filled the air with talk about how great Lilith’s car drove. It was a Porshe caymen and she had it painted a very offensive yellow. The only way that she could get Annette to drive the car was by having it painted her favorite color. She was not sure why she wanted Annette to drive her car when Annette had her own, but the thought of Annette in the driver’s seat, speeding down the freeway always got her motor running.

“So, where are we headed?” Lilith inquired.

“It’s pretty early, but there’s a couple of places that a bunch of Freshmen have breakfast. We’ll go to the Crimson diner first. They make good omelets if you’re hungry,” he answered.

She gave him a sidelong glance and that answered his question. She was hungry for vengeance and nothing more. And it would certainly taste good once she devoured those idiots.

Pulling up to the diner, Lilith and Blitz exited the car and were met by a lot of curious stares. It took a few seconds before several brazen morons strolled up with smirks on their faces, approaching Lilith. Blitz stood back and figured it was best to watch the fireworks. Natural selection and all that seemed to fit for the moment.

“Hey, honey, welcome to the party,” one of the larger boys said as he put his arm out, as if he planned to put it around Lilith’s shoulders.

Blitz had to work hard not to blink since he knew what would come next would happen in less than a second. Lilith grabbed the kid’s wrist, twisted it behind his back, kicked out his knees, and had him on the ground before he realized what happened. And, when he did realize what happen, she had her knife to his throat and she was glaring down his pack of friends like they were zebras and she was a starving lion.

“Let’s not try anything stupider than we’ve already accomplished, fellas,” she told them. But, they pulled out their guns anyway.

“Guys, it wouldn’t be a good career move to shoot at Lilith. I shot her once and it didn’t turn out well,” Blitz informed the young members of the League.

“Lilith? The Devil King’s sister?” the guy on the floor inquired, his voice catching in his throat. The others all focused on her and she could see the tremble in their hands. At least her reputation preceded her.

“The queen succubus in the flesh and I won’t steal your breath away if you dumbasses will answer a few simple questions,” Lilith promised with a twisted smirk on her face.

They complied quickly, but Blitz was still far from impressed. Most of these Freshmen would end up dead if they could not tell Lilith by sight. It meant that they had not bothered to learn any of the leaders of the Soldiers of Hell. He was certain that they would run up against a Soldier and make a stupid mistake and end up fed to some fighting dogs.

“I need to know if any of you know one or all of these guys,” Blitz announced, holding up his phone. He had a still from the security footage on there and forced each Freshmen to look. Lilith eventually let the idiot go that she was holding and stood next to Blitz. She then showed them some still photos of the boys in question, just in case they needed a few to jog their memories.

“I know the guy in red. His name is Shank. We enrolled together,” one of the boys finally admitted.

“Where does Shank usually hangout around this time?” Blitz asked.

The young man shrugged. “I dunno. His mom’s house or some shit.”

“Nah! That fucker is with Wessen and K-roll at Ben’s house. He’s been having a fucking week-long party. I was just there and they were hugged up with some bitches,” another kid stated.

“Yo, not cool! You don’t just rat out a League member,” a boy in a ball cap yelled.

“You do when a fucking Professor’s asking about ‘em! I’m not tryna get jumped out or worse over some bullshit!”

“You know Ben?” Lilith asked Blitz as the Freshmen got into an argument over what counted as snitching.

“Yeah, he’s a Junior. Likes giving the Freshmen and Sophomores a place to hangout when he can,” Blitz answered.

“Sounds like he runs a frat house when he should be providing a classroom,” Lilith commented as she walked back over to the car. She went to the passenger side.

“Well, I have to say, all of this ignorance might work to our favor,” Blitz replied as he hopped into the driver’s seat.

Lilith arched an eyebrow. “How so?”

“They’ll brag to a Professor about what they did, I’ll bet, and they won’t even know who the fuck you are.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“I’m doing it for the Ivy League. If we have people this stupid in the organization, we’re done for. I’m not stupid and I’m not overconfident like Dean. I know if we go to war with you guys again, there won’t be a next time. When Lucifer made that peace agreement, I know he did it just so you could have an easy time of marrying Annette. I know how you three work. You, Lucifer, and Damien, you’re fucking maniacs, but you’re also family. You only want each other to have a hard time if it’s you giving it. The peace gave you a chance to get married and it gave all of you a chance to figure out how the hell you could take us down.”

Lilith’s face did not twitch to give anything away. “Look at this way, Blitz, if it ever gets that bad again, I’ll shoot you in the leg and you can join the dark side. Luce likes you.”

He chuckled a bit. “Why does that scare me?”

“Cuz the last time he liked a League member, he cut his tongue out and blinded him?” she guessed.

“Now  _that_  is something to look forward to,” he remarked sarcastically.

“You missed the point of the lesson. You never turn Lucifer down. You always make the deal with the Devil.”

“Which explains why I’m here now.”

Lilith smiled. “Now, you’re learning, Professor.”

-8-8-8-8-

Pulling up to Ben’s house, Lilith could have sworn it was a frat house. There were drunken teens wandering about the front of the house, a couple of beach balls littering the lawn, dozens of discards cups and plates, and the front door was wide open for any and all to enter. The air around the old Victorian house smelled stale and heavy.

“We really need to start a mentoring program,” Blitz muttered as he scanned the area. Disgust curled his top lip.

“Ben doesn’t stay here, does he?” Lilith guessed. No one who was a Junior in the Ivy League would be caught dead living like some immature punk.

“He owns the house, but last I heard, he lives in an apartment that’s close to his office. He works in the Penn division.”

“He’s a lawyer? That explains his normal name.”

“His name’s not Ben. He looks like a rat, so that’s what we call him.”

Lilith could not help laughing and she entered the house with Blitz. It certainly was a party going on, but it looked like some responsibly adults had showed up and were trying to put an end to it. Lilith decided to give the guys a helping hand and pulled out her gun. Firing a shot off out the broken front window and up, to avoid accidentally shooting someone, she seemed to get everyone’s attention.

“Hey, Freshies, I think these Seniors are trying to tell you to straighten the fuck up,” Lilith announced, motioning to the men that were obviously in charge. They were dressed in nice suits and forcing kids toward the door.

“Lil, I gather you don’t get asked to many parties,” Blitz joked.

“What the hell is Lilith doing here?” one of the Seniors inquired as he approached Blitz.

Blitz regarded the man with a frown, more than likely because of the way he had stormed over to the higher-ranking officer. “There’s a bit of a situation. I’ll fill you in, but you tell them I want all of the kids here rounded up in the front room, like yesterday,” he commanded.

Lilith watched as the Senior nodded and went to do as he was ordered. Blitz moved off to the side to fill the Seniors in on what was going on while the Freshmen gathered where they were told. Lilith took in each new face that came in.

“Dude, it’s the fucking dyke from last night!” the freckled-face dead man from the club laughed, pointing at Lilith.

“Yo, it totally is!” another one who was wearing red agreed as he took a long look at Lilith. “You shoulda stuck around and saw the fucking show that fucking Book gave us! You thought she was all over you? Well, she couldn’t get enough of our cocks! Turned her ass right around from being a homo!” he declared while cupping himself in front of her.

“She was begging for us by the end of the night, like a right little Book!” a skinny, tall one proclaimed. The last of their foursome, a short kid with glasses, guffawed and knocked the skinny one in the chest as if congratulating him.

Lilith just smirked; Blitz was right. Those fools let their ignorance blow it all. They threw their lives away with proud smiles on their faces as they boasted about what they did to her beautiful wife.

“What the fuck are those morons talking about?” one of the Seniors asked Blitz.

“Let’s just say they touched Annette and leave it at that,” Blitz replied.

“No fucking way! Who the fuck touches Annette?”

Blitz pointed to the four young walking dead that seemed to be having a good time mocking and taunting Lilith. The Seniors looked at them and then realized what they were doing. Their eyes filled with terror as they turned and looked at each other. They then peered at Blitz. He shrugged.

“So, Blitz, I’m just going to take these four,” Lilith announced as she cracked her knuckles.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, that wasn’t part of the deal,” Blitz objected, stepping over into the fray.

“You’re kidding me, right? You think I just wanted to find them to say ‘hi’?” Lilith inquired with an arched eyebrow.

“Look, they violated a follow League member. They’ll be punished by the League,” he informed her.

“They violated my wife! I told you that trumps your fucking League!” Lilith snarled and her eyes took on a bestial glaze that warned Blitz to tread carefully or she would kill everyone in the house to get what she wanted.

“Lilith, calm down,” Blitz begged.

“Boss, why are you talking to this fucking dyke like this?” the freckled-face kid inquired.

“Shut the fuck up!” Blitz ordered and he pointed an authoritative finger at the young men. “Do you fucking morons realize how much you’ve fucked up! You don’t touch members of the League!”

“She was just a Book. That’s what she’s there for,” the skinny one argued.

“She wasn’t just a Book! And even if she was, she’s not there for your fucking abuse and fucked up prejudice! She’s a part of the League just like you are and you don’t fuck with other League members!” Blitz barked, moving to get in their faces. “Not that you boys will get the chance to fuck up this badly again because you fucked with the wrong Book in the first fucking place!”

The boys looked confused for the first time. All of that pride knocked out of them, but that was not enough for Lilith. She needed them to squirm out in the open, disrespect them in front of their peers, take away any and all dignity that they had, and then she would take them away for their proper punishment. It would give the League something to think about in regards to anyone considering touching her wife again.

“Freshmen, today is your lucky day,” Lilith informed the house. “Consider me a keynote speaker in a special class that you all get to attend and maybe learn from to avoid getting killed in the future. These four before you were stupid for a lot of different reasons. One of the biggest reasons is that they don’t know who I am. How many of you don’t know who I am?”

Most of them looked blank. The Seniors could not believe their eyes and neither could Blitz. Lilith shook her head. Lucifer was going to have to hear about this ignorance.

“I am Lilith, the dark succubus queen of the Soldiers of Hell. I lurk in the shadows and steal the breath of men until they are no more,” she informed them and watched as jaws dropped in recognition. “It seems you’ve heard of me, but no one bothered to find out what I looked like. Truly sad. I wonder, how many of you know I’m married?” she asked and received more blank looks. “I suspected as much. I’m married to a member of your organization. She’s considered a Book by you, but to Soldiers of Hell, she’s a princess.” Lilith’s sharp eyes cut back to the four dead men. “You touched the only Book that happens to be a princess of Hell.” She watched with some satisfaction as the information sunk in and the boys all gulped. They then turned pleading eyes to Blitz.

“Boss, we didn’t know!” the one in red begged.

“Don’t look at him,” Lilith hissed. “He can’t help you now. Now, you were all boasting about what you did to Annette. How about I tell you what I’m going to do to you?” she proposed with a demonic smirk.

“Boss!” they all implored Blitz.

“Lilith,” Blitz said, but he did not know what to say after that. In all honestly, he believed that Lilith did have those boys dead to rights. Yes, they were members of the Ivy League and they hurt a fellow member of the League, but he knew that the punishment for harming a Book would be nothing compared to harming Lilith’s princess.

“Blitz, let me tell you a little something about punishments in the Hell organization. We believe that punishments should fit the crime, but so much worse to make sure no one else makes the same or a similar mistake. Now, these boys didn’t kill my princess, so I have no plans to kill them,” Lilith promised.  _No time soon anyway_ , she mentally added.

“Is there anything I can do to settle this without these boys going off with you?” Blitz asked.

“We both know the answer to that. You also know what will happen if you oppose me,” Lilith replied darkly.

Blitz nodded; if he handled the situation wrongly, they would have another war on their hands. It was clear that the Ivy League was not ready for a war with the Soldiers of Hell. Their organization had gotten too large for it’s own good. Once upon a time, having so many members had been their saving grace, but now it was definitely threatening to be their damnation.

“I’ll give you an idea of what awaits them,” Lilith informed him, even though she knew that what she had in mind would not be quite as accurate in the demonstration that she was about to give. She then turned her attention back to the boys. “Pull down your pants,” she ordered. They looked aghast and their eyes drifted back to Blitz. “Don’t look at him,” she commanded calmly. “Look at me and pull down your pants or I’ll shoot you in the kneecaps and have your friends pull down your pants.”

The threat that was actually a cold promise got the four moving. Blitz could already guess where she was going with the demonstration, but did not stop her. The boys deserved the punishment in his opinion. Ignorance was no excuse for what they did and if they wanted to play with the big boys, they needed to know the game was for keeps.

And, the punishment went exactly like Blitz thought it would. Lilith forced the boys to give each other oral sex in front of all of their peers. Even if she left them after that, they were ruined, but he knew that she would not leave them. Whatever they did to hospitalize Annette definitely went beyond forced oral sex. Lilith actually was going to go further, but she did not want Blitz to fully understand what awaited the quartet.

“See, not so bad,” Lilith said to Blitz after ordering the boys off of each other.

“Lilith, I have to call the Dean,” Blitz replied.

“Call him. I’m going to call for a pickup. I’m taking them no matter what,” Lilith stated.

Blitz needed to save face in some manner, so he quickly got on the phone with Dean. He made sure to get through the call as swiftly as possible. He then turned his attention back to Lilith.

“The Dean says its fine for you to take them,” Blitz stated.

Lilith rolled her eyes. She knew that she could and would take them. The boys used the little time they had left to cry and beg for Blitz and the Seniors to do something. But, the decision had been made. The other Freshmen, though confused, did not get involved. They had already seen the start of the foursome’s punishment and they undoubtedly did not want any part of what else was on the table for them.

Lilith stuck around just long enough for her pickup crew to know who they were taking. The four boys were dragged off, screaming and wailing, into a van. Lilith watched with a pleased smirk and then she turned her attention to Blitz.

“Nice doing business with you, Professor Blitz. Hopefully, the next time we meet, it will be just as pleasant,” she commented, even though she was certain it would not be.

Blitz nodded. “Agreed.” The glint in her eyes told him that it was merely a wish. And, when he saw her back as she left, he knew that she did not even perceive him as a threat anymore. He did not know if that meant she lost respect for him or if she knew something about him that he did not even realize yet.

-8-8-8-8-

Lilith entered Annette’s hospital room and found it devoid of family. She guessed her brothers and Janice went out for lunch. Oddly enough, she was not hungry, even though she had not eaten in almost twenty-four hours. Grabbing a chair, she pulled up to the bed and took her wife’s hand.

“Princess, sorry I haven’t been here all day. I just needed to take care of some business. The morons that hurt you, that beat you, that raped you, will never do that to anyone else. Instead, they’ll get to feel what it’s like to be raped and beaten for a while, what it’s like to be a Book,” Lilith remarked and then she stroked Annette’s hand with her thumb. “I know you don’t want to hear anything about that, though. Instead, I figured I’d tell you about us going on vacation or something. You’re done with classes. We could go away for the whole summer. A cruise would be nice, right?”

“A cruise?” a voice groaned and Lilith grinned as her wife turned in the direction of her voice. It appeared that Annette was trying to open her eyes, but it was almost impossible due to the swelling.

Lilith moved closer. “Yeah, baby. I remember you said you wanted to take a cruise. We can go. I’ll book it for us today,” she promised, even though she knew that Annette would not be able to truly enjoy a cruise in her condition.

“In the Mediterranean?” Annette asked, her voice low, tired, and gravely. Her eyes were barely opened at half-mast and it seemed that was as far as they would go.

Lilith nodded eagerly and kissed her wife’s fingers. “Of course. Whenever and wherever you want to go.”

Annette smiled a little. “Lil … what happened? My head is all … foggy …”

“You were attacked, princess. Do you remember anything from last night?”

“Attacked?” Annette’s head lulled to the side. “I remember you coming to work and I danced for you, but you had to leave and see Lucifer. I remember dancing … but, nothing after that …”

Lilith was somewhat pleased by that. She did not want Annette to recall the trauma of being beaten and violated. She was saved from Annette asking because her doctor came in. He was not Lance, but the trauma surgeon that had oversaw Annette’s surgery. He was gentle with her while checking her injuries and making sure she was all right. His smile seemed to set her at ease, which Lilith was grateful for. She could not stand to see her princess suffer anymore.

By the time the doctor was done, Annette had succumbed to sleep once more and Lilith was ready to do the same. She had been awake for three days and stressed beyond belief for the last twelve hours. But, it seemed like things would be all right. Before she drifted off into a light sleep, her brothers and Janice returned.

“Productive morning,” Lucifer commented with a smirk. He patted his wife on the back as a signal that she should step out. Even though two forms of confidentiality protected them, he did not like her to hear business and she did not like it either. He understood that it was not for everyone and it helped her see him for himself rather than the boss of an underworld organization.

“The morning is done as are those four. By now, I’m sure they realize some of the horror they put my princess through,” Lilith replied.

“Oh, they have. I made sure of that,” Damien stated. “I’ll go check on them when we’re done here.”

“Good, good. Also, I think it’s time to open the Gates of Hell,” Lilith informed her brothers.

“Ah, saw weak links in the armor this morning, eh?” Damien said with a demonic smirk.

“It’s time to place coins on their eyes and charter trips down the river Styx because the level of incompetence I witnessed today almost brought me to tears,” Lilith replied.

Lucifer nodded. “We’ll strategize once you’ve had a proper rest.”

Lilith nodded, knowing that was just as good as a declaration of war. As she and her brothers had once been told “the wages of sin is death” and it was time for the League to pay their fare. They had grown too large to sustain themselves.

-8-8-8-8-

Lilith moaned pleasantly as strong hands massaged her shoulders and rubbed sunscreen on her back. She was lying on a beach towel on pearly white sand. Annette was straddling her back and making sure her skin was protected from the sun’s rays. Annette occasionally leaned down and placed a soft kiss behind her ear.

“I can’t believe you actually booked us this vacation. Any chance on making it permanent?” Annette purred. She was feeling much better, considering the fact that it had been a year since she was attacked, except for on days when it rained. Rough weather hurt her wrist and leg. On occasion, she still suffered nightmares, but Lilith always got her through those times.

“I don’t think you want to stay here. You know the rainy season here would be the death of you,” Lilith pointed out with a sigh.

Annette nodded. “You’re right, but what if we never go back?”

Lilith blinked and turned over. Annette stayed up right and remained straddling her spouse. They stared at each other for a long moment.

“You’re serious?” Lilith asked.

“I can’t go back to work,” Annette reminded her wife. She literally could not. She had tried to when she was released from the hospital and suffered a severe panic attack when she was in the parking lot. Her mind seemed to know that her injuries were related to something at the Gentlemen’s Lair, even though she could not recall what happened that night.

“So, you don’t want me to go back to work,” Lilith assumed.

Annette glanced away, swallowed, and then nodded. “I just … I want us to be … normal, I guess. I mean, we are normal, but then not so much.”

“Annette, princess, do you really want to get out of the city?” Lilith asked softly. She reached a hand up and caressed her lover’s cheek. She doubted this change had anything to do with her work and everything to do with Annette no longer feeling safe where they were, despite the fact that not only had Lilith punished her attackers, but Lucifer had devoured Dean’s entire operation.

“I do …” she whispered. “I’m sorry, but I just …”

“Shh!” Lilith sat up, so that Annette would slide into her lap. She then embraced her. “You know I would do anything for you, right?”

“I know you would,” Annette answered, burying her face in Lilith’s neck.

“So, how about we move to nice little suburb? A place with parks and cute kids that I know you would love to teach how to read?” Lilith proposed. Yes, she had lived in the city all of her life, but she would do anything for her wife.

Annette moved back to look into Lilith’s eyes. “You mean it?”

“We’ll move anywhere you want. But, I do want to keep my job. I have to be there for my brothers.”

Annette smiled and just as Lilith assumed, it was not really about her work. It was just about getting Annette some place she felt safe. So, they moved into a suburb, not too far from the city, so Lilith would not be too far from her brothers. Lilith continued on with her work and Annette went on to teach kindergarten at a local public school. Eventually, they even had a daughter, whom they named Moira. Moira loved playing with her cousins, Iblis, Yama, and Diablo, who were often brought over for barbeques by Lucifer and Damien, who had found a wife. Annette was given her normal life … as normal a life one can get in a family where everyone was a devil. But, to Annette, they were all angels, who healed her wounds, took the utmost care of her, and made her royalty.

The end.

I hope you enjoyed the tale. I am returning to my cell and will try to be back with something more my style shortly. Take care.

**Author's Note:**

> If you wanna see more of my fanfics, they're all at FFN under [StarvingLunatic](https://www.fanfiction.net/~starvinglunatic). If you wanna see some original stories, you can look at FP under [StarvingLunatic](https://www.fictionpress.com/u/576301/).


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